Australia's first minister for equality to reform gay adoption laws

By Farrah Tomazin

December 6, 2014 — 9.57pm

Gay couples will be allowed to adopt children in Victoria and religious organisations will find it harder to discriminate against employees based on their sexuality, under changes to be made by Australia's first minister for equality.

Hours after being sworn in as part of the new Andrews government, Equality Minister Martin Foley promised to waste no time amending state adoption laws in order bring Victoria into line with NSW, Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.

Tackling inequalities: Martin Foley's appointment marks the first time an Australian government has ever had a dedicated Minister for equality overseeing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues.Credit:Chris Hopkins

At present, gay couples in Victoria can be appointed as foster parents or guardians, but do not have the right to adopt a child together – even if that child has been in their care for years.

Mr Foley said Labor would also tackle other inequalities, including the inability of a step-parent to adopt their partner's child and the inability of a gay couple to jointly adopt a child conceived through IVF.

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The plans have been broadly welcomed by the gay community, although some are concerned the government wants to conduct a review before it introduces legislation into parliament. The Victorian Law Reform Commission completed a similar review under the Brumby government in 2007.

However, Mr Foley said Labor had committed to amending the act on two fronts: to grant adoption rights to same-sex couples, and to allow mothers to access information about children they were forced to give up under past practices. He said a quick review was necessary to ensure there were no inadvertent "mishaps" when drafting the reforms, but added: "It will be dealt with as expeditiously and as thoroughly as we can. We will do it once, and we will do it right."

The government has also vowed to:

* Rewrite equal opportunity laws to make it harder for faith-based organisations, such as schools, to discriminate against certain employees because of their sexual orientation and religious beliefs.

* Require every government secondary school to have programs to support gay students through a state wide rollout of the safe schools coalition initiative.

* Amend the Relationships Register to ensure same-sex couples married in other countries can have their relationships recognised in Victoria.

* Repeal section 19A of the Crimes Act to remove discrimination in the law for people with HIV.

Mr Foley's appointment marks the first time an Australian government has ever had a dedicated Minister for overseeing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues. He admitted some had criticised the move – "I've had some highly obnoxious emails which don't bear to be responded to" – but said it was an important step in removing barriers faced by the gay community.

Anna Brown, co-convenor of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, said: "The Andrews Government has set a new national benchmark for respect of LGBTI communities, and we would encourage the Coalition to match this commitment to diversity by appointing a shadow spokesperson on these issues."